HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- After eight days of testimony in federal court in Huntsville, the trial over the legality of Alabama's property tax system will move to Birmingham this week.

Testimony in the case, which is shifting to Birmingham to accommodate schedules of witnesses, has featured a lot of bruising Alabama history, from the antebellum era to the reign of Gov. George Wallace, as lawyers for the plaintiffs have tried to illustrate how past racial attitudes formed current tax policies.

The State of Alabama is being sued by families of black schoolchildren in Lawrence and Sumter counties and families of white schoolchildren in Lawrence County. The suit argues Alabama doesn't tax property adequately and that state law makes it difficult to levy local taxes, which leaves schools underfunded.

The plaintiffs are asking U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith to find the state's current property tax provisions violate the Equal Protection Clause in the U.S. Constitution. They want Smith to give the Alabama Legislature a year to develop a new property tax code.

Attorneys for Alabama, led by former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Drayton Nabers, have argued that Alabama's public school funds are distributed fairly, that there is no discrimination and that the plaintiffs cannot show particular injury caused by the present system.

Tax experts for both sides have dueled over whether Alabama's system is unique or discriminatory, but there has been little disagreement over the fact that Alabama's property tax rates are the lowest in the country.

The state also uses sales tax and income tax revenues to help fund public education.

The plaintiffs argue the system is a byproduct of a racist 1901 constitution and measures passed in the 1970s during an era of resentment over school integration.

The defense points out that Alabama's system gives communities the chance to ask voters to raise property tax rates through a referendum. If the property taxes are comparatively low, they argue, it is the will of the people.

This week is expected to include testimony from former Gov. Albert Brewer, a Decatur native, who was defeated by Wallace in the 1970 race for governor. That campaign, political scientists have argued, was among the nastiest in U.S. history.

The plaintiffs are also expected to call former U.S. Rep. Ben Erdreich of Birmingham, who served in the Legislature in the early 1970s.

Former Alabama Sen. Richmond Pearson is also expected to be called by the plaintiffs. Pearson and retired federal judge U.W. Clemon in 1974 became the first black members of the Alabama Senate since Reconstruction.